No Place Like Home
by DramaLexy
Summary: How far would you for the thing you want the most? A little RononTeyla & Shweir shippy. Set at some random point in season 2 so anything before the midseason break is fair game for spoilers. R&R. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: No Place Like...

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

SUMMARY: How far would you for the thing you want the most? A little Shweir & Ronon/Teyla shippy if you want to see it that way. Set at some random point in season 2; anything before the mid-season break is fair game for spoilers. R&R

DISCLAIMER: Oh, if only I owned this show...but I don't, so please don't sue.

* * *

"How in the hell did we let you girls talk us into this?" John asked as the people on the TV screen in front of him started kissing. Elizabeth smiled, grabbing a handful of kernels from the popcorn bowl that Teyla was holding. She was rather enjoying forcing John, Rodney, Ronon, and Zelenka to watch one of the romantic comedies that the Daedalus had brought to the city on its last visit. 

"Because you know we can make your lives miserable," she told her 2IC. "You got to watch your guy movie already."

"We're going to need at least two more to make up for this," John replied. She rolled her eyes.

"In the Colonel's defense," Teyla added in, "I can now understand your attraction to…" she paused, uncertain of the term, "Sports cars?" John nodded.

"I knew you'd come around if you saw what I've been talking about for all this time."

"What's next?" Rodney asked as the closing credits began to play on the screen. "I think they stuck the newest Harry Potter movie in here…" He began riffling through their box of choices.

"I think I'm heading for bed," Elizabeth decided.

"It's not that late, is it?" Zelenka asked. Everyone checked the time and they were surprised to see how much had passed.

"Yes, it is," she told him. "Thank you all for a great evening. We should do this more often."

"Ah, found it!" Rodney exclaimed, standing up with the DVD for 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'. He then realized that everyone else had completely moved on to a new topic. "Oh, sorry. What was that?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Goodnight, all."

"See you guys in the morning," John echoed before also leaving. Elizabeth was already halfway down the hall, and heard him break into a light jog to catch up to her.

"Something I can help you with, Colonel?" she asked with a grin.

"No, I just thought I could walk back with you, at least until we get to our own hallways…So do you really think we should have more movie nights?"

"Sure. Sometimes I'm up in my office so much that I forget what the rest of the city looks like. It was nice to have a night off."

"Well, then, we'll just have to make another hole in your schedule."

"I'll work on that." They arrived at the corridor that her quarters were off of. "I guess I'll see you in the morning as well."

"Yeah. Sleep well."

"You, too."

* * *

It was still dark outside when the sound of Elizabeth's door opening pulled her from sleep. Sitting up, slightly, she could see the small figure of a child in her doorway. 

"Mom?" he asked. "I had a bad dream."

Elizabeth pulled back the edge of her blanket, inviting him over. "Bad dream about what?" she asked as he got settled beside her.

"I don't know…do you miss Dad?"

"Sometimes. But I know that he's got his own life back in Washington and we have ours here."

"Do you miss home?"

"Not so much anymore. Atlantis has become another home for me, and I know it will for you, too."

The boy smiled. "I love you, Mom." That earned him a hug.

"I love you, too, Jadin."

* * *

TBC...  



	2. Chapter 2

No one in Atlantis had any idea that this extra person in the city didn't actually belong. The next morning, as John came into the gate room, he noticed that Jadin was sitting at the bottom of the great staircase. "You're late, Colonel Sheppard," he reported.

"And a pleasant good morning to you, too," John teased. "How late is late?"

"Five minutes."

John grinned. "That's early for me. I'll see you later, kiddo."

Up in the conference room, Elizabeth, Rodney, Beckett, and Teyla were waiting for him. "Nice of you to make time to join us," Elizabeth commented.

"I already heard it from your timekeeper at the bottom of the stairs," he replied. "So shall we get started?"

From his place down by the gate, Jadin watched as the conference room doors closed. He started to leave the room, but almost bumped into an officer that was coming in.

"Where are you off to?" he asked the little boy. He smiled.

"Just exploring."

* * *

By the time the senior staff meeting was ending, Elizabeth was almost finished with her second cup of coffee and had every intention of going to get a third. "Rough night?" John asked her after everyone else was gone. 

"Nightmare," she replied.

"Yours or his?"

"His…How exactly is a twelve-year-old supposed to cope with moving to another galaxy?"

"I think he's been doing pretty well so far."

"Are you going over to the mainland anytime soon?"

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"At least that'll give him a chance to play with some other kids."

"Yeah, he can tag along if I go."

"Thank you." Having emptied her mug, Elizabeth headed back for her office to get more. "I'm not sure which of us is crazier," she told John as he followed her. "Me for wanting to bring Jadin here, or Simon for actually letting me. I mean, letting me take him along for a couple months in Africa is one thing. An indefinite amount of time in the Pegasus Galaxy is another."

"Yeah, he probably wins the crazier vote. But kids are resilient, and he's having a good time. It'll just take some adjustment."

* * *

Jadin's 'exploration' of the city had brought him down to Atlantis' recreation area, and he'd spent the last ten minutes standing in the doorway to one of the training rooms, watching as Ronon practiced. 

"Where are you supposed to be?" the ex-runner asked at one point without even turning around to face his solitary audience member.

"N-nowhere. How did you know I was here?"

"Heard you coming halfway down the hall." The boy's eyebrows rose; he hadn't been aware that he'd been making noise. "Does your mother know where you are?"

"Sort of…" Jadin moved to sit by the window. When Ronon looked at him, though, there was no one there. The room was empty. "How long did it take you to learn all that?" a voice asked, and the little boy had suddenly reappeared again.

"M-many years."

"Could you teach me?" Ronon concentrated, trying to figure out what had caused the vanishing act, but Jadin had not disappeared again, and was waiting for an answer to his question.

"I'm not sure if I'm cut out for that," he noticed someone else in the doorway, "But I know who is."

"What is going on?" Teyla asked.

"You've got a new student," Ronon informed her.

* * *

"It was awesome!" Jadin told Elizabeth later that day as they had a late lunch together in the mess hall. "Teyla said I'm really good for having just started. Better than Colonel Sheppard was in the beginning." 

She smiled. "You probably don't want to tell him that."

"I'm going to go practice more after lunch."

"Have you done your assignment for today yet?"

"I'll do it later."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "No, you'll do it first. Laptop and homework, then sticks and practicing. You promise?" He sighed.

"Promise."

" John said he would be able to fly you over to the mainland sometime soon. How's that sound?"

"Are you coming, too?"

"I don't know. Depends on when you wind up going."

"You have to come, too. We can have lunch outside, like we used to do with Dad in Washington, remember? Picnics on the Mall."

"We'll see, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

TBC... 

Love it? Hate it? Confused? (well, confusion is kinda intentionall. all will be revealed eventually) Anyway, send feedback!


	3. Chapter 3

Teyla was still in the training room when Ronon came to find her. "How did your lesson go?" he asked as he started stretching out.

"It was fine. Jadin is a fast learner; I believe he would enjoy practicing with the other boys his age on the mainland once his abilities are a bit more advanced."

"You miss them?" Ronon asked, although it was more of a statement than a question.

"Every day."

They stood on opposite sides of the circle on the floor, preparing themselves to fight. Even among her own people, it was hard for Teyla to find someone whose skill level matched her own, and Ronon head learned several times – the hard way – not to underestimate her. They could continue on for long bouts with neither one of them able to decisively gain the upper hand.

Ronon's slightly cocky smile only added insult to injury as Teyla hit the floor, hard. He started to use his stick to keep her pinned down, but the next thing he knew, he was laying on the ground right beside her. The smile on his face was now replaced with a glare, but Teyla just laughed.

"Who won that round?" she asked as she got up, reaching a hand to help Ronon do the same. He ignored the hand, getting up on his own.

"It was a draw," he told her. "It deserves a rematch." Teyla picked her sticks up again, unable to resist goading him a little bit.

"If it will make you feel better," she agreed with a smile that was a touch too evil to be totally innocent.

* * *

That evening, once Elizabeth finally finished debriefing a team that had checked in three hours late – and surprisingly, it was not John's team – she realized that she couldn't find Jadin. He wasn't in his room or hers, Teyla hadn't seen him in a few hours, no one remembered when he'd finished dinner in the mess hall, and he'd forgotten his radio earpiece on the table beside his bed. 

"I'm sure he's just hanging out somewhere and lost track of time," John told her as he helped her look through the main tower of the city.

"He knows better than to start wandering around without a radio."

"He's twelve. Honest mistake."

As they passed a set of doors that led to one of the balconies, something made Elizabeth look outside. She noticed a motionless shadow on the ground that wasn't normally there. " John…" He saw, as well, and activated the door. "Jadin?" Elizabeth called. The boy sat up, relieving their panic. "Are you okay? What are you doing out here?" she asked as they hurried over and knelt beside him.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Do you know what time it is?"

Jadin looked at his watch. "Sorry. You were busy and…I just wanted to look at the stars."

John looked up at the lights in the sky. "Pretty good night for that," he told the child.

Elizabeth handed him his radio. "You've gotta remember to take this when you go wandering, Jadin."

"Oops."

"Yeah, oops."

"I was wondering why you never called me. I thought you were just still in your meeting. I'll try to remember better."

"Thank you."

The boy looked back up at the sky. "Do you ever watch the stars anymore?" he asked Elizabeth.

"Sometimes…It's not as much fun without you."

Jadin smiled. "We don't know the constellations here, though. It's a completely different galaxy."

"Well, then, we'll just have to make up new ones," John told him. "Like…see those three stars over there? And then the four below and those other ones above? If you count the three on the right as a tail, then that could possibly maybe be a Black Hawk."

Elizabeth laughed. "Good job, John."

"What? He's got a point; we need some constellations around here."

"That looks like the Earth glyph," Jadin pointed out, a finger aimed at the stars above them.

"Yeah, it kinda does," John agreed.

"All right, bedtime," Elizabeth told the boy. "The stars will still be here tomorrow night."

"Goodnight, Colonel Sheppard," Jadin said as he got up.

"G'night kiddo. See you tomorrow."

* * *

Besides the designated recreation and training rooms, Atlantis also had several outdoor areas and gardens. By halfway through the following afternoon, one of these gardens had been turned into a miniature football field. 

"Good catch," John told Jadin as the boy scooped the ball up. He tried throwing it back, but hadn't quite learned how to put a spin on the ball yet. John went to retrieve it from the 10,000-year-old bushes behind him.

"Where did you go this morning?" Jadin asked him.

"P4G-592."

"Were the people nice?" The boy caught the ball again.

"There were no people," John said. "Not anymore."

"The Wraith?"

"Yeah. Wiped them out centuries ago, probably." Jadin tossed the ball and actually got it somewhat close to John's hands. "Hey, getting better!"

"Do you think the Wraith will ever come back to Atlantis?"

"I'm not sure. I hope that before that happens, we'll find a way to get rid of all of them, but there's no way of knowing what's going to happen in the future."

"I hope we figure out a way to get rid of them soon. I don't want anyone else to die because of them."

John smiled. "You and me both." He tossed the ball again, but to his surprise, Jadin wasn't there. The football fell to the ground just behind where the boy had been standing.

John looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. " Colonel Sheppard?" he heard a voice ask, and turned back to see Jadin walking towards him, holding the ball. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine."

* * *

If John had had any idea that other members of the Atlantis expedition had been having similar experiences, he probably would have said something. Since he didn't know, he figured that his eyes had just been playing tricks and forgot the incident in favor of preparing for his team's next mission. After all, how could a person they all knew was real simply vanish? 

The next morning, once the team arrived on the planet, they split into two pairs. John went along with Rodney to speak with some of the science minds of the well-developed community, while Teyla and Ronon worried about trading in the marketplace. Atlantis needed some food items, which would ease the load on the Daedalus supply runs, and obtaining some fabrics and animals skins would go a long way in helping Athosians prepare for winter on the mainland.

"Here, try this," Teyla told Ronon as she handed him a small cup of stew that she had just acquired.

"Not bad," he said after tasting it. "I've got something I want to show you." He led her down the aisles of carts that filled the marketplace until they found an open area by a fountain. Sitting down on a bench, he took his purchases out from the bag that had been slung over his shoulder. "What do you think?" he asked Teyla as he handed her the fighting sticks.

"I think they are a bit small for you," she replied with a smile.

"They're not for me. I thought you could give them to the boys on the mainland that are learning to fight; it might be easier for them if they had weapons that were their size instead of borrowing from others."

Teyla nodded. "This is very thoughtful. What did these cost you?"

"Nothing I wasn't willing to part with. The grips still have to be carved, but I thought it would make them more meaningful if you did that yourself…And having to deliver them would give you another excuse to go visit on the mainland, to go be with your people."

She nodded with a smile, slightly overwhelmed by what was perhaps the nicest thing anyone had done for her in a very long time. "It would."

"All right, then," Ronon said as he stood. "We should probably go check on the others."

"Yes. Hopefully they have not managed to get themselves into too much trouble in our absence."

* * *

TBC... 


	4. Chapter 4

While AG-1 was gone, Jadin used the time to practice for his afternoon lesson with Teyla. He was having trouble concentrating, though, and finally left to instead just sit in the control room.

"It is rare to see you sitting still," Zelenka commented as he came up the stairs. "Have you explored the whole city already?" he teased.

"My expedition was called off today," Jadin replied in kind. "My negotiator is busy." Zelenka looked to see that Elizabeth was talking with an officer in her office.

"Ah. And you didn't think you could manage on your own?"

"I probably could…but I decided to just be an observer today instead." Zelenka laughed.

All of a sudden, the chevrons on the gate began lighting up. "Unscheduled off-world activation!" one of the officers called. Elizabeth emerged from her office. "I'm reading Colonel Sheppard's IDC."

"Lower the shield," she ordered.

A burst of weapons fire came through before anyone from John's team did, and everyone who was down on the first floor of the gate room ducked. Sheppard, Teyla, Rodney, and finally Ronon all came into the city, and the gate was shut back down. "Do I even need to ask?" Elizabeth called to John.

"Hey, not my fault!" he protested. "Blame Dr. McGrumpy over here."

"It was a planet of quacks!" Rodney exclaimed. "How is their stupidity my fault, simply because I pointed it out?" John just rolled his eyes.

"All right, all of you get yourselves checked out in the infirmary and then we'll debrief. Are you hungry?" Elizabeth asked Jadin, turning to where he'd been standing by the DHD. However, he wasn't there.

"Sure," Jadin replied, and she almost jumped as she realized that he was now right beside her.

"How did you…"

"How did I what?" No one else seemed to have noticed anything. Elizabeth shook her head, dismissing the thought. She simply hadn't seen him walk over; that was the only explanation.

"Nothing. Let's go get some dinner while we wait for everyone else to finish."

* * *

As they got food in the mess, Elizabeth just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "What have you been up to all day?" she asked Jadin.

"I walked around the labs and then did my homework. And I practiced a bit for my lesson."

"Sounds like a lot for one morning. You look like you wore yourself out."

"I still have to practice more."

"I think Teyla will understand if you get some rest instead." Elizabeth noticed as Jadin rubbed his head, wincing. "Are you all right?"

He nodded. "I-I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," she replied, getting up and kneeling beside his chair. "What's wrong?"

"My head hurts."

"How long has that been going on?"

Jadin shrugged. "I'll be okay, Mom."

"I'm sure, but I wouldn't mind hearing that from Dr. Beckett as well. Come on."

* * *

The boy only seemed to get worse as he laid on one of the beds in the infirmary, waiting for Carson to return with the results of his tests. Elizabeth stayed at his side, holding his hand.

"Dr. Weir?" Beckett said as he finally came over. He indicated with a tilt of his head that he wanted to talk to her in private.

"I'll be right back," she promised Jadin. "What's going on?" Elizabeth asked the doctor once they were out of earshot. Carson sighed.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. He's suffering from cellular breakdown in almost every system of his body. It's unlike anything I've ever seen, but that's not the only thing." He handed her a printout. "I did an analysis of his bloodwork. That marker right there," he pointed on the page, "Is the indicator for the ATA gene."

Elizabeth frowned. "How is that possible?"

"For a child to have the gene when neither parent does? I don't know. It shouldn't be; it is a dominant trait."

"I know how." They both spun to see that Jadin had gotten up and was standing behind them.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," Beckett told him, but the little boy shook his head.

"It's all right. I'll be fine soon."

"How do you know what's happening?" Elizabeth asked.

"Because it's my fault. The past few days…most of the things you've seen and done were things that I created. It was an illusion. I'm sorry that I took control over your minds, but…" He waved a hand, and suddenly everything was back to the way it should have been. Everyone in the city remembered past events as they had actually happened, not the version that Jadin had made.

"You're an Ancient," Elizabeth deduced.

"Yes. I lived here, in Atlantis, before I ascended. But I left my parents behind, and they were killed in the Great Siege."

"Why were you playing with our lives?" Beckett asked him.

"I'm sorry…When the others were going to abandon Atlantis, I saw when the time ship arrived. The woman on it…she reminded me of my mother, and I missed her so much. None of the others knew at the time, but I did what I could to make sure she lived through the crash. And when she chose to stay in the city, to ensure that it survived…I watched over her for ten thousand years. Waiting for you to arrive."

"Your highest law is to never interfere," Elizabeth pointed out.

"I know. But the more I watched you, the harder it was to do nothing but watch. I knew I was risking being banished, but I didn't care. I just had to know what it was like, once more, to live in Atlantis and have a family."

"But you can't sustain corporeal form for very long," Beckett realized.

"No. Not if I want to retain the knowledge and abilities of the ascended. It took a lot of energy to maintain the illusion, and now my strength is fading. But it's okay; I did what I wanted to do. Now I'm ready to return and face my punishment."

"Wait," Elizabeth told him. Jadin smiled, taking her hand.

"Thank you," he said. A moment later, his body dissolved to light, and then vanished altogether. Elizabeth and Carson just stared at each other.

"Sheppard to Weir," she heard over her headset a moment later. "I am very confused at the moment; do you have any idea what's been going on around here?"

"Some," she replied.

* * *

TBC... 


	5. Chapter 5

By later that night, everyone was still shaken. Elizabeth had briefed her senior staff, who had passed the information along to their teams, and pretty much the entire city was still talking about what had happened.

"I'm not sure if I like the fact that the Ancients can get into our heads that easily," one Lieutenant was telling another at dinner. "I mean, they were pretty much rewriting people's lives and we had no idea that anything was going on!"

Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney were sitting at the other end of the table, and overheard the conversation. "I'm tempted to agree with Mr. Air Force over there," Rodney told the other two. "There are certain lines that shouldn't be crossed. I mean, what if he'd done permanent damage while he was messing around in my mind?"

"He was an Ancestor, McKay," Ronon pointed out. "He probably had some idea of what he was doing."

"It must have been very difficult for him," Teyla pointed out. "To have felt such a strong longing for home for so long."

"That's part of ascending," Rodney replied. "You leave all humanly things behind and can't interfere."

"Would you be able to live for ten thousand years, Dr. McKay, knowing that you had the power to do anything that you wished, but could not use it?"

Ronon snorted. "He can't even keep himself from playing God now."

McKay glared. "Okay, when are we going to forget about the solar system thing?"

"It'll still be a good joke for at least another year," Ronon informed him.

"Lovely," he sighed.

"Multiply your feelings on that prospect by ten thousand," Teyla told him, "And perhaps you will have an idea of the strength of emotion that Jadin felt."

* * *

Elizabeth and John were discussing the same topic in her office. "I still have the memories of the past few days," she told him. "But I know it wasn't real." 

"It was real enough. You still thought you were someone's mother."

"Yeah…I never imagined that I would be missing that now…"

"Sergeant Williams to Dr. Weir," a voice came over her headset before John could come up with a reply.

"Go ahead, Sergeant."

"I think there's something you should see, ma'am."

She frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm not sure. I'm five levels below the control room."

"I'll be right there." John gave her a curious look.

"What was that about?"

"I don't know. Let's go find out."

By the time they got down to Sergeant Williams' position, a medical team was arriving as well. Everyone was surprised to see what the man had found – Jadin's unconscious form lying in the hallway.

"What happened?" Beckett asked him.

"I don't know; I just found him here as I was doing rounds."

The team began loading him onto a gurney. "I'll let you know what I find out," Beckett promised John and Elizabeth as he followed them back down the hall towards the infirmary.

* * *

"He's in perfectly good health," Carson reported a few hours later. "However, his memory has been wiped clean." Elizabeth sighed. 

"He was banished."

"It would seem that way. He's got no idea of who he is, where he is, or what's happened to him. For now, I've given him something to help him sleep, but he has to be told something in the morning."

Elizabeth nodded. "Thank you, Carson," she said before leaving the infirmary with John, heading back towards the control room. "I can't understand how they could do this," she finally spoke up once they were almost halfway there. "He's a little boy, and he's been ascended for millennia. How is he supposed to just start over again?"

"He messed with the minds of hundreds of people, Elizabeth."

"Don't you think that I know that? But he wasn't trying to hurt anyone, and he wasn't giving away knowledge we shouldn't have. He just wanted to go home."

"Maybe this isn't really a punishment, then," John realized.

"What do you mean?"

"You just said it yourself. He wanted to go home. And now he is, and he can live out the life that he never had before. Maybe his 'punishment' is really just giving him what he wanted. And yeah, it might not be fair to make him our responsibility, but…no one seemed to mind him so much a couple days ago."


	6. Epilogue

"So, what do you think?" Elizabeth asked Jadin as she and John led the boy into the gate room the following morning.

"It's really big," he told her, looking around with wide eyes. After a moment, though, his face turned contemplative. "Where is my family? Are they here, too?"

Atlantis' leaders shared a look before John knelt in front of the child. "You were in an accident, which is why you can't remember anything. Your family…they're not here, and they're not coming back."

"Atlantis is your home, though," Elizabeth added. "And you're going to be safe here, and taken care of. I know it will take some getting used to, but things are going to be okay."

Jadin looked away, taking in the activity of the control room above them. A smile slowly crossed his face. "Yeah," he finally said. "Home."

* * *

Fin. 

Feedback please? Pretty please? With a cherry?


End file.
